Wedding Tunic and Ensemble
A late 19th-century wedding tunic whose whole fabric gleams with gold thread, a loose, square-cut ceremonial garment lavish with metal thread and velvet. Full commentary ↓
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Wedding Tunic and Ensemble is a textile by an unknown maker (late 19th century) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the pictureA loose tunic with short sleeves is draped on a mannequin. Thread wrapped in metal is woven through the entire fabric like vertical stripes, so from a distance the whole garment glitters gold. The neckline is cut deep, and the garment is a wide rectangle that does not cling to the body.
BackgroundUsing this much gold thread in a wedding garment displayed the wealth of the bride's family, and it also ties to the belief that shining metal wards off evil. Garments with metal thread woven over cotton and velvet were heavy and stiff, impossible to wear every day; after the wedding they were handed down through the generations, or the thread was unpicked and sold.
Puzzle tipNearly the whole image is gold vertical stripes, which makes this a hard puzzle. Build a frame first from the pieces that are not gold, such as the dark line of the neckline, the sleeve ends, the hem and the white parts of the mannequin, then sort the gold pieces by the direction of the stripes (horizontal on the sleeves, vertical on the body). 48 pieces are recommended.
- Classification
- Main dress-Womenswear
- Medium
- Cotton, velvet, metal wrapped thread
- Dimensions
- Tunic (a):
- Credit line
- Gift of Irene Lewisohn and Alice Lewisohn Crowley, 1946
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
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